Is Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth waging a holy war against Iran?

About this episode

The episode discusses Pete Hegseth's controversial role as Defense Secretary and his use of religious rhetoric in shaping U.S. military policy towards Iran.

Why has Hegseth fired top generals from the military, and how does he use religion to justify America’s war aims? We look at the frontman for the US war in Iran, the former Fox News host, Pete Hegseth. A key feature of his Pentagon press briefings are his religious rhetoric, which may reveal the motivation behind his reforms of the U.S. military. Despite only narrowly making it through the confirmation process to become defense secretary in the first place, Hegseth has become a key figure in the White House as he looks to reshape the Pentagon by rolling back on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policies and removing many key figures at the top of the Pentagon. Justin Webb and Anthony Zurcher, speak to Eric Schmitt from The New York Times, a longtime national security correspondent who recently left his press desk inside the Pentagon after refusing to accept new Trump administration rules that restrict their movements and who they can talk to. Justin and Eric discuss the reasons why Donald Trump wanted Hegseth in post, the impact so far of the changes he is making inside the Pentagon, and whether he is eyeing up a presidential run of his own one day. Presenter: Justin Webb, Radio 4…

People in this episode

Host: Justin

Guest: Eric Schmitt

Topics covered

• Pete Hegseth
• Iran
• U.S. military
• religion in politics
• Pentagon reforms

Keywords

• military leadership
• Trump administration
• national security
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Americast

Books & works: Americast

Places: Iran, America, US, U.S., North America

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